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Friday, May 23, 2014

Dark Side Of The Sun by Belinda Burke

An ancient pact was once broken by the theft of Summer’s prince. Now, the Red King has found him. To live, to love, they seek the dark side of the sun…
A thousand years ago, Milesian invaders gained ownership of Ireland from Summer’s Queen through trickery. Since that day, the green isle’s native sidhe have been imprisoned in their hidden kingdom, bound by their ancient pact with the Milesians.
Now, the treaty has been violated. The Milesians have stolen Bran Fionnan, the son of Summer’s queen. Trapped in the human world with no way of returning home, Bran is held under a death threat that forces him to work for his captors. He must forge weapons the Milesian huntresses can use to slay their new foe—the Red King.
The Red King is Macsen Cadoc, a vampire—a hunter who cannot stand being hunted. He seeks vengeance for the Milesian attacks in spilled blood—Milesian blood, and the blood of the sidhe traitor who has forged their weapons.
When the one he finds is a victim, not a traitor, everything changes.
Bran Fionnan is the Milesians’ most valuable prize, but from the moment Macsen sees him, he wants him…and the Red King is not accustomed to being denied—by anyone. What begins with desire may end in extraordinary ways, but first there are questions that must be answered.
What is love? Can it help Bran overcome lost ties and a lifetime’s worth of anger? Can it help the Red King gain more than the satisfaction of his lusts?

***

This is a book unlike any other book I have ever read. It shocked me that a book like this would have caught my attention as it has. I will say I was thoroughly surprised, and strangely pleased by it's contents. A story about a prince who was stolen from his immortal home to forge weapons in our human realm, to be used against people of his own realm is usual enough. What made this book different from what I have previously read is that I have never encountered a man on man romance. The romance is between the stolen child, now a man, and the ruler over one of 8 immortal kingdoms.The red king, Macsen Cadoc, the ruler of a winter kingdom where the sun does not shine. He is a strong vampire who has lived hundred and hundreds of years but has grown bored of the redundant happenings of his kingdom. He starts to dream of a blue eyed gorgeous man. Unsure if what he is dreaming is real, Macsen finds himself looking for him, the blue eyed stunner, and is successful. I felt myself rooting for Macsen, even though I am not sure that I should. His character, being a vampire, gives off the ruthless killer vibe from page one, but I couldn't help but think to myself that I hope he gets his guy. Finding myself glad that he did was short lived as what ensues had me on my toes.

I have yet to explain Bran, as the stolen Summer's Prince, he doesn't remember much of his childhood, and what he does remember was of living with the people who abducted him. The way the author explains him leaves me feeling like he is very innocent almost timid. And although devastatingly handsome, never really had reason to think so. Definitely the role of someone who needs saving. Throughout the whole of the book he seems to be very out of place in the mortal world, understandably, since he was made to feel like the ultimate outcast by all of the Milesians. They didn't want him to grasp how powerful he was. I believe they were successful since they were able to keep him for so long. Until Macsen's arrival, Bran was completely at their will, but started to find a strength and courage that was buried inside.
The turn of events that directly follows their night together had me wondering, worried, and waiting on every word that followed to see how their relationship would play out. I admit, it kept me on my toes. I wasn't worried for Macsen because I know he can hold his own, but for Bran who ends up being captured and punished for his affair. Especially when he reveals who it was he was with; makes the whole situation worse.

Belinda Burke did a great job on this book. I love the details. You can imagine yourself in her character's shoes by how she describes them. This book is set to be a series which caught my attention right away since I live for series, and it's the first book. I like what this novel is about, it completely took me out of the norm and put in me a vivid world filled with creatures and concepts only imaginable. I define a novel by how deep I can be transported into another place while still living and breathing in my own. Since this is a series, I won't say that there are negatives yet since there is so much more literature to come, but I can say that I hope to see strength in Bran in the next installment and would love to see how he and Macsen's relationship matures. Gosh I want to know what happens.

I give this novel 4 1/2 stars for being surprisingly hot for something I can't relate to :) I can't wait to read more of her work.